Art of making leather articles



July 30, 1929. w. B. CAMPBELL Re. 17,387 I ART OF MAKING LEATHER IRIICLES Original Fild Oct. 19, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR- ATTORNEY:

July 30, 1929.

w. B'. CAMPBELL 1' OF MAKING LEATHER Original Filed Oct. 19. 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

'Arrongvzm V "July r929. w. QEAMPEELL 7 Re. 17,387

ART OF KING LEATHER ARTlCLES I Original Filed Oct. 19, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

Anomsyd' Reissued July 30, 1929. UNITED STATES WENDELL B.

CAMPBELL, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE PERKINS-CAMPBELL" COMPANY, or CINCINNATI, orrrqn CORPORATION or OHIO.

ART or MAKING LEATHER ARTICLES.

Original No; 1,710,043, nae

My invention relates broadly to the art of making leather articles, and in the shoe A particularly to, the art of making industr fancy slices which have elements such as the vamps,quarters, facings, foxings, heel covers I and trimmings, which are composed in whole or in part of leather having diiferent finishes my object to greatly facilitate ..,and coloring oft'hose parts of which require. this type of leather.

or colors. I a r In the leather goods manufacturing art there is a constant demand for piecing together ieces of leather having difierent finishes. in the manufacture of leather bags, cases, belts, portfolios, suit cases, pocketbooks, clothing, upholstered. goods, and shoes, the requirements of style demand that the articles be made of pieces 'ofleather having different finishes and colors. This is particularly apparent in the shoe art. The provision of shoes having unique styleefi'ects has become of such importancein the industry that not only have the wearing quali ties of the leather been regarded of less im portance, but there has been a tremendous. waste in scrap leather, which it is the object of my invention to minimize.

Every hide, or animal skin, which by nature is designed as a protective coating for. an animal, has portions which are better suited for use in some parts of a shoe or leather article than in other parts. It is my object to teach the art of utilizing leather hides and substantial portions thereof in such a manner as to selectively adapt those parts of the leather for use in those parts of the manufactured articlefor'which they are best suited, irrespective of the finish applied thereto, which has not been possible heretofore without the wastage of tremendous quantities of'valuable leather, which have been subjected to unnecessary and expensive finishing treatments.

It is my object to disclose how the individ ual component parts of an articlemay'be taken from that part of the skin for which the leather is best adapted. It is further the dyeing the article which require coloring. It is my object also to greatly facilitate the embossing of patterns on thoseportions requiring them, the expense of I special treatment such as 1 scotch. graining in those'parts of the afticlgs n a and to decrease very materially April 23, 1929, Serial 110.142,?32, filed October 19, 1926. Application for reissue filed June 6,1929. Serial No. 369,019.

dition to showing how comparatively great savings maybe made, it is further my object to teach an art which will greatly widen the range of decorative effects which may be obtained.

It is also the object of my art to greatly facilitate the producing of various finishing eifects by cheaper equipment and much less ponderous and dangerous machmery than is now required.

In order to explain the advantage of cutting out the individual component parts for shoes from a side of leather so-as to utilize the portion of the hide best suited for a particular purpose, I have illustrated the principle involved in connection with shoe manufacturing, and have shown how the component parts of a shoe having a pattern requiring component parts of differently finished'leather, maybe eificiently cut from an unfinished hide or substantial part thereof.

Referring to the drawings Figure 1 is a plan View of a side of leather showing in shaded areas the portions of the side which canbe utilized for the various shoe elements.

Figure 2 is a plan View showing how the side of leather shown in Figure 1 could be cut into shoe elements, such as would be required for assembling the shoe shown in Figure 3. r

Figure .3 is a ladies shoe of a pattern which has been selected for purposes of illustration.

Theside of leather illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 is, a calf skin in which the area A shaded with diagonal lines is the thick'unwrinkled portion called the butt of the side. This por tion is available for shoe Vamps. The nearer to the. lower end of theside in which the Vamps are cut will ordinarily determine the quality of the shoe in which the vam s are to be used. The portion B'of the side s IEtdECl (marily on the number of Vamps which can be,

cut from it, as all the portionsavailable for quarters and foxing, saddles and tongues could be'cut from the portions, available for Vamps.

Referring to the sample shoe which we have illustrated in Figure 3 The shoe is a ladies tongues T are of plain black grained leather.

Figure 2 illustrates how a shoe cutter would proceed to cut up such a side of leather for manufacturing shoes according to the sample indicated. The pieces which are to make up component elements of the shoes are marked in sequence, VL1 indicating the vamp portion for the left shoe of the first pair of shoes. V-R2 indicating the vamp portion for the right shoe of the first pair. It will be noted that the side indicated provides ten Vamps marked in sequence up to VL10 and VR10, so that five pairs of shoes may'be made.

The hide has some cuts and markings such as salt stains and wire fence scratches whichare indicated at C which it will be noted the cutter cuts almost entirely into suede pieces and scrap of such size as to be utilizable.

The foxing parts are indicated at F, the foXing for the first pair of shoes consisting FR2. Each pair of shoes has a right shoe with a right and left foxing, and a left shoe with a right and left foxing, the right foxing for the right shoe being cut on the same pattern as the left.

The only scrap remaining from the side illustrated will be the neck portion which is of such comparatively large size as to be available for many purposes. both in the shoe manufacturing industry and in other industries, and under my process can be used for linings for the same shoes, and properly finished therefor after cutting.

Basically all leather made from one particular class and of one particular tannage is the same, regardless of the finish finally applied. All hides must first go through a process to remove the hair, and then through some tanning process. My new art conteur plates the usual de-hairing process and a tanning operation. If I use vegetable tanned hides, the hides should be brought to the fully tanned condition, known as the crust condition in the trade. The hides must be then set, shaved stretched and dried; If chrome tanned hides are used, the hides should be given the usual pickling and chrome bath after de-hairing. At this stage in the present practice, the hides are fat li uored stretched and dried and must then q 7 be lVQll the finishin treatment rec uired at b v I a once, or else it will be lmpossible to preserve the proper receptive condition of the hides.

According to my process, a suitable treat ment is given to the hides to permit of their being held, and subsequently given a finish ing treatment. One way of doing this with chrome leathers is to employ a mixture of 2% of lactic acid With the chrome liquor. The hides may also be conditioned after the chrome bath by soaking in an aqueous bath containing 15% salts, 5% Glaubers salt, 2% glucose and 2% of glycerine. Alum tanned hides are given a similar treatment, with the substitution of an alum bath and treatment instead of a chrome bath.

lVhen the hides have been so treated as to permit of reconditioning, which is usually done by wetting the hides, they may be given the fat liquor treatment, stretched and dried,

or they may be left in their tanned condition,

without fat liquoring,and this increasing of fatty content given to the hides before or after they are cut up into shoe parts, or two fat liquor treatments can be given, one before shipment, and the other later.

If other tanning treatments are used, the leather shouldbe prepared in such condition that it may be subsequently finished, and as my art contemplates the finishing of the individual component parts after they have been out to shape and size for shoes or the other articles in which they are to be used,

any tanning treatment which leaves the leather in such a condition that it cannot be subsequently finished, and which would require an immediate cutting into shoe parts following the normal fat liquoring, or which would require the finishing with colors, embossing, graining, or the like, could not be effectively applied in accordance with my process.

It is contemplated that the manufacturer will receive his hides in such a conditionthat he can re-wet or recondition them, before cutting into various elements, to which the desired finish is subsequently applied.

According to my invention I apply the finish to the pieces after they are cut from the hide, thus obtaining the correct finish for the desired type of leather with a minimum of waste.

I desire to cover in my process any mode of preparing leather which will permit of its being held suffic-iently before finishing to permit of shipment, storage and cutting up into various types of parts for leather articles, and have recited but one method as applied to chrome and alum leathers in relation to shoe manufacture, which is typical of the treatment which should be applied to other types of tanned leathers.

The methods of tanning heretofore employed would result in leaving the hide in such a condition that it could not be given a subsequent finishing treatment because of its having so set in its condition that further treatment is impossible.

i Inaccordanceiwith my invention, the hide 1n a-condition WillCh will pernnt of its being I given. whatever finish is desired, is cut up into o the component parts ofthe article to be. made I graining, etc. 1,5

leather which will not be. availablefor, use.

while inzthis condition. In my drawing and explanation-,thereof,'I have fully indicated in atypical piece ofleather, the factors which will control in the cutting. ,After. the cutting, the individualpieces of leather are give'n the desired finishing, in which finishing a wide variety of treatments may be given, as

brushing with color, dipping intocolor,

japanning and baking, embossin sandlng,

The artof paring hide to receive a surface finish, then. cuttingout the component parts of the article and thengiving the individual pieces a surface finish, is primarily advantageous be.- cause it eliminates the finishing of much even after it is finished. Then it brings the leatherpieces forming the component parts of the'article, down to such a size and shape that they can be given the trcatmentslsuch as sanding, coloring and embossin economically than was heretofore possible: It also avoidsthe difficulty inmatching colors or-embossed patterns in articlesrequiring matched patterns. Finally it enables the cut-ting of thehide or skin with a much wider range of possibilities ofusing the particular. part of the hide in that part of the article for which it isbestadapted.

The embossing of previously cut leather.

pieces, such, for example, as is required. for

. the Vamps of shoes, and the embossing, for

exa1nple, with' reptile marki'ng, only requires a small embossing and plating roller or plate sufiiciently large to handle a singleelement,

instead of a cumbersome, expensive and f dangerous mechanism. The disposition of,

the markings in desired portions of the leather pieces may further be accurately controlled. If, as has been standard practice in the past, an entire hidewere to be embossed witha flowered. design as isshown on the shoe tip in Figure 3, it wouldbe almost impossible- .to so cut the vampsthat the rightqualityof leather would'be available'and at the same p time the flowered design would occur in the center of the tip. In entiresides of leather which" are embossed" with reptilian. designs, the: cutting and matching ofthe pieces for each shoe is a taskthat is mostarduouaand as a: result, efiiciency' in cutting is impossible. I In apply ng a color coating to small pieces of leather, such'asare required forthe'coms ponent parts i of an article,:. colors which, be-

causekf'of their quick drying'qualities, cannotbe used onentire s1des, maybe employed. I

prefer to use strong pigment coatings, which may' be applied with one stroke J across the piece, with a'swab or brush. This enables me to make a very uniform shade of color which making-leather art cles by pre-' (I much more avoids all difficulty of matchingcolors in parts for the same article. It has been almost impossible in the past to obtain a uni-- fornicolor on an entire hide or: substantial portion thereof, without "repeated thin coatings very carefully applied.

There are a number of pigments and other finishing processes which can only be used in coatinga small piece with one application, which I'am'able to use, so that a very wide range of 1 shades and intensities may be achieved.

In patent leather shoes, for example, very particular selection of'the leather composing it,'is required, and my art contemplates the selection of theparts prior to the application of the patent leather finish. Aftercutting out the elements, I japan them and then bake them in a japanning oven, where being in such small units,.accurate'control of the heat is muchmore readily accomplished and better work can be done.

In consideringtheadvantages of selecting the leather for the parts of various leather articles prior to the finishing'operation, it

shouldibe noted thatI have taught an art which is economically of great importance. Although the market price of'leather is constantly fluctuating, if we assume a certain price per pound at the tannery of unfinished leather, when a finishing treatmentsuch as dyeing and coloring, embossing with a reptile pattern, or scotch graining has been accomplished,the cost of the leather has increased many'times.

leather would be only about-one third of the cost if the various finishing treatmentshad been applied. This is because forcoloring an entire or substantial portion of. a hide from SlX to twelve coatings of thin pigment .haveto be applied, and a strong pigment such as I. employ for coloring with a single coat cannot be applied to an entire side of the leather. If

a side of leather is to be embossedwith a reptile design, there is required a very expensive embossing die. If the hide is to be scotch grained for'shoe manufacture, the expense, whichI minimize because I treatonly those parts which are to bescotchgrained in the finished shoe,-is wasted if the entire hide is scotch grained, because the-only part of the leather which could be utilizedwould-be the vamp portion, inthe shoe which I h aveillus tratedl Actual calculations which]: have had verilied againand again by different. shoe manufacturers, show that in the making of fancy shoes,often there is a cutting scrap ofas high assixty percent. because certain types of shoes require certain types'ofelementstherein accumulate until inventoriesiof leather are; carried which represent huge investments-which are reflected Leathers which are bought i 100 For example, in the particular shoe which I I have illustrated, the cost of the untreated in the high price of shoes. My art avoids the expensive treatment of much leather which cannot be used after treatment.

The economies of finishing the individual elements of articles in accordance with therequirements of the article, make the possibilities of applying a wide variety of finishes much more economically than was heretofore possible. In dyeing and subsequently 'color-' ing an entire hide or a substantial part thereof even though six to twelve coats of weak pigment have been applied, when the elements of the article are cut from the side subsequently, it is almost impossible to'match the colors without great loss in scrap. In applying one coating of a strong color, all matching difliculty is avoided, and there is a much wider range of coloring possibility than where weak colors are used.

In embossing entire hides or substantial parts thereof, the problem of arranging the embossed elements so that they will appear in certain positions in the manufactured articles is also a source of great waste, and results in the use of muchleather not suitable for a particular element in which it is used.

In cutting the elements for a shoe prior to the finishing of the leather, I am able to split the hide and prepare the outer side with one finish and the inner side with another finish, which again makes a material saving in the leather required. This is particularly advantageous in shoe and belt manufacture, and in the manufacture of traveling bags and cases.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent. is i .1. Those steps in the process of manufacturing shoes which-consist in tanning and preparing a hide to receive a surface finish, then cutting out from the hide dissimilar parts for shoe uppers, using those partsof the hide for the particular shoe parts for which the quality of the particular part of the hide out out is i 7 best adapted, then independently finishing each part with its desired finish after the parts are out before finally making the parts into the uppers of shoes.

2. Those steps in the process of manufac turing shoes which consist in tanning and preparing a hide to properly receive a leather dye, then cutting out from the hide parts for shoe uppers, using those parts of the hide for the particular shoe parts for which the parts of the hide out out are best adapted, then independently dyeing each part a desired color after the parts are cut and surface finishing the dyed parts prior to their assembly into shoes. I

3. Those steps in the process of manufacturing shoes which consist in tanning and preparing a hide to properly receive a surface finish, including such steps as will permit the hide to be reconditioned by wetting, subsequently wetting and reconditioning'the hide, then cutting out from the hide parts for shoe uppers using those parts of the hide for the particular shoe parts for which the parts out out from the hide are best adapted, then independently surface finishing each part with its desired finish after the parts are out before finally making the parts into shoe uppers.

4. These steps in the process of making shoes which consist in tanning and preparing a hide to properly receive a surface finish, then cutting out from the hide parts for shoe uppers, using those parts of the hide for the particular shoe parts for which the quality of the particular part of the hide out out is best adapted, then independently fat liquoring and finishing each part with its desired finish prior tothe assembly of the parts in a shoe.

5. Those steps in the process of making shoes which consist in tanning and preparing a hide to receive a color coating, then cutting from the hide parts for shoe uppers using those parts of the hide for the particular shoe parts for whichthe parts of the hide out out are best adapted, and then independently surface coating each part with a single application of color prior to the assembly of the parts in a shoe.

6. Those steps in the process of making shoes which consist in tanning and preparing a hide to receive a surface finish, then cutting out from the hide parts for shoe uppers using those parts of the hide for the particular shoe parts for which the partscut out are best adapted, and then coloring and independently scotch graining those parts which are to have a scotch grain in the finished shoe prior to the assembly of the shoe. 7. Those steps in the process of making shoes which consist in tanning and preparing a hide to'receive a surface finish, then splitting the hide, then cutting out from one split portion parts for shoe uppers using those parts of the hide for the particular shoe parts for which the parts of the hide out out are best adapted, then cutting out from the other split portion other parts for shoes, then independently finishing each part with its desired finish prior to the assembly of the parts in a shoe.

8. Those steps in the process of manufacturing a leather article, which consist in tanning and preparing a hide to receive a surface finish, then cutting out from the hide dissimilar parts for the article, using those parts of the hide for the particular parts of the article for which the quality of the par.- ticular part of the hide out out is best adapted, then independently finishing-each part with its desired finish after the parts are cut, before finally making the parts into the finished leather article. i

9. Those steps in the process of manufacturing a leather article, which consist in tanceivera surfacefinish, including such steps as Will permit the hide to be reconditioned,

subsequently reconditioning the hide, then cutting outfrom the hide parts for the article, using those parts of the hide for the particular parts of the article for which the parts {cut out from the hideare best adapted, then independently surface finishing each part with itsdesired finish after the parts are cut, before finally making the parts into the finished article.

'10. Those steps in the process of making leather articles which consist in tanning and preparing a hide to recelve a surface finlsh,

then splitting the hide, then cutting out from one split portion partsfor the article using those parts of the hide for the particular parts of the article for which the parts of the hide out out are best adapted, then cutting out from the other split portion other parts for the article, and then independently finishing each part with its desired finish prior to the assembly of the parts in the finished article.

WENDELL B.CAMPBELL. 

